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Things have been very busy for the last year. And finally, thankfully, I’m coming home. It’s been way too long between trips. When I moved here so long ago, I told myself that I needed to come home at least once per year. But by trying to focus on exams and study and putting leave time on the back burner, I have gone 2.5 years without being home. I miss everyone very dearly and I’m excited to be pointed north… way north. See you all soon.

So… a little while ago now, I bought an airplane. It’s a Quad City Challenger that I bought from a man in NSW. It’s the physical fulfilment of a dream I’ve had for decades. It’s the start of the dream becoming real. I’ve always dreamt of being a pilot, and knew that I needed to make it happen. When I was younger it seemed so far away that I needn’t worry about it, just dream. But then later on, I started realizing if I don’t start this, it might not happen. So, after finishing medical school and realizing I would one day have a paycheck again, I started to look into it again. I did training with the General Aviation flight school in town and got a good foundation on the principles. The problem is that it’s very expensive building time in a rented airplane, and for good reason, airplanes are not cheap. So I started to look around. Private rentals can be a bit cheaper, but many have a minimum experience of over 100 hours. That’s a lot if you’re renting them all. Enter Ultralight Aviation… the time goes in your log just the same, an hour is an hour. And they’re a lot more affordable. It’s a different style of aviation, that’s for sure, but it’s still very exciting and provides me with a chance to leave the ground way more often than before. There’s something quite amazing about flying in your own machine, too.

Yesterday I was sitting in Magnetic Island clinic office and got a call that instead of spending the rest of the week on Maggie, I would be driving or to Richmond first thing in the morning. It made for an early start and a late finish but I’m here… So different! It was 42 degrees here today.

This is where I’m staying at the moment… Ingham is about an hour and a half north of Townsville. It’s not sole practice here which is a good thing because the hospital is much more busy. And thankfully there’s no asbestos for me this time.

Recently I’ve been touring the countryside again, on another rural relief term… For three months I’ll be going from place to place doing country work. It’s a mix of general practice, covering the local hospitals and health service and emergency. Hughenden is my first placement and it’s about 400 km west of Townsville. I’m here as the sole doctor in the town. Hopefully everything works out well!